It is known in the prior art to house electromagnetic aircraft transducers in an aerodynamically-shaped surface or housing on the outside of the aircraft. The prior art discloses support configurations having an aerodynamic housing rigidly attached to the aircraft. Attachment in this manner precludes relative motion between the aircraft and the housing. Thus, the housing moves through the incident airstream in the same manner as the aircraft to which it is attached. During portions of the aircraft flight envelope, sizeable airloads normal to the plane of the surface of the aircraft and housing are encountered when the aircraft angle of attack or sideslip and the plane of the incident airstream differ.
Further developments in the prior art have resulted in mounting configurations for housings in which the aircraft and the housing structurally interface in a torsionally unrestrained manner in at least one rotational degree of freedom about a pivot axis. Attachment of the housing in this manner permits alignment of the housing in a manner parallel to the incident airstream reducing the airload and effectively dynamically decoupling the housing from the host aircraft in that degree of freedom. However, decoupled housings of the type disclosed in the prior art may only support a two-dimensional transducer array.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved apparatus for externally installing and supporting a multi-dimensional transducer array without subjecting the array to static and dynamic aeroelastic instability.